But let’s assume for a moment that Jackson HAD won. What difference would it have made? Teams trade players that win the Rookie of the Year award all the time. The Braves traded Neftali Feliz to the Rangers in the Mark Teixeira trade back in 2007. The Red Sox traded Hanley Ramirez to the Marlins back in 2005. Neither the Braves nor the Red Sox GM’s should care as long as they’re happy with the players they got back. I’d say the Yankees did fine with Curtis Granderson in 2010.

@ MJ Recanati:
My all time favorite is Lou Piniella. He was originally signed by the Cleveland Indians who lost him just a few months later when the Washington Senators picked him in the first year draft. The Senators then promptly traded him to the Baltimore Orioles who, in turn, traded him back to the Cleveland Indians who, interestingly enough, left him unprotected yet again. So he was drafted by the Seattle Pilots—who promptly traded him to the Kansas City Royals, where he won the Rookie of the Year Award. Got all that?

But let’s assume for a moment that Jackson HAD won. What difference would it have made? Teams trade players that win the Rookie of the Year award all the time.

Yup.

But, it’s one thing to trade a guy who later wins the ROY award at some time, and, it’s another thing to trade a guy because you’re sure he’s not major ready, and you trade him for a guy who plays the exact same position as him – but is paid much, much, more – and then he goes and wins the ROY award RIGHT AFTER you trade him. The former is part of the game. The latter is a GM that is clueless.

@ Steve Lombardi:
Based on how weak Jackson’s bat was in 2010, I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that he wasn’t necessarily major league ready from an offensive standpoint. I don’t think Cashman ever doubted Jackson’s defensive aptitude, I just think he wanted the same caliber of defense with a far more advanced bat.

If you call that clueless, that’s your prerogative. To me, that’s smart. Shall I remind you for the umpteenth time that: (1) you yourself denigrated Jackson as a prospect and (2) were horrified to think that the Yankee OF might be poor in 2010. Turns out that the Yankee OF was perhaps one of the league’s best all season, both offensively and defensively.

We’ll see how Jackson plays in 2011 and beyond. But the Yanks did themselves a big favor by picking up Granderson. He had a very good season, Jackson’s ROY near-miss notwithstanding.